VANcity Today

So here we are.
30km away from the end of our trip!

The road from Calgary to here (my aunt's house in Port Coquitlam, BC) has been an incredible one. We have seen the mountains. We have camped in some beautiful places. We have met even more giving and incredible people.

Truthfully, I cannot remember each and everyone of our stops form Calgary to here at the moment- I will have to take a look at my journal and enter those in the next entry. But I will however, touch on some highlights.

1) Rogers's Pass
This was supposed to be the largest challenge of our trip- the steepest and longest climb in the mountains. Once we hit the pass, and I looked up the road which winded up and around the first portion of the mountain, I knew it would be a challenge. I would have to say that the hardest part was the heat- sweat poured off of my body the whole time. Luckily I was able to cool off a bit at creek of glacial water about half way up teh pass. Overall, it was a great feeling to conquor such a challenge- and my lunch of a burger and fries at the top tasted better than it should have for sure.

2) The Biker's Tan
After getting used to wearing my small biking shorts without anything over top, and after some shirtless days above 30 degrees, I have developed a sweet biker's tan. Basically, my back is crazy dark, along with the tops of my legs. Its a sight.

3) The Beauty of BC
After spending some time at my aunt's in Invermere, and after biking through places like Banff, Lake Lousie, Roger's Pass, Hope and many others...I think I have to give the prize to BC as Canada's most beautiful province. The mountains are incredible, the forests thick, and the lakes are amazing- especially if they are glacial fed.

4) "The Coq"
This pass was supposed to be the #2 to Rogers. People warned us of this gradual, but long uphill ride often. But we actually rode over the coquihalla without really knowing it- we had expected a larger challenge I guess.

But the best part was the downhill of the coquihalla. This was nuts, let me tell you. AND- we reached our highest of all speeds going down (mom, you probably don't want to know)...74km/h on our bikes. It was nuts, almost surreal. We were passing trucks in crazy videogame-like tunnels. That was definately a highlight.

5) Being "Done" the trip!
Eventhough I will bike the portion I missed during my knee injury, it is pretty amazing to be so close to done the trip. To think that we have covered over 6200km as a team is unbeliveable. But I think the most unbelievealbe part of it is how natural it all seemed to us. While there were some definate low points, the highs were just constant. For us, biking across the country has been nothing sort of a pleasure and a privilege. It is a trip I would recommend to anyone, and one I will never forget. What a journey.